Games security to be largest in history

The word from the Chief of the Defence Staff, General Rick Hillier, described in a 2006 directive, is that the Forces "will help Canada achieve Olympic success, taking care that security does not become the dominant theme."

Another "planning guidance" document issued last October by Commodore David Gagliardi, the deputy commander of Canada Command, the military's domestic operations command, warns that "it must be understood that the [Vancouver 2010] Games are a sporting event, not a security one."

That document notes that there are major global threats that must be guarded against by the RCMP, which will lead security for the Games, and the Forces, which will provide extensive support.

There are terrorist groups with a presence in Canada, the document states, noting that a 2004 al-Qaeda document placed Canada as the fifth-most-important Western target behind the United States, Britain, Spain and Australia.

"As a visible participant in the international campaign against terrorism, Canada could become a direct or indirect target for terrorist attack," the document states.

A spokesman for the RCMP, Staff Sergeant John Ward, said that although there is planning to deal with possible terrorist acts, "there is no identifiable threat at this time." Still, the Canadian Forces are planning a "robust and enlarged" contingent of troops to help the RCMP, the document states.

Other Defence documents task commanders with developing plans for air support, and to begin putting together a "maritime security plan" -- presumably a naval effort to secure the waterways and ports of British Columbia.

Still, security forces are not supposed to be the most visible participants at the Games, and high-tech toys are to be kept under wraps.

"No new technologies to be employed during Olympics. This is not a showcase for new stuff," RCMP Chief Superintendent Bob Harriman warned in a meeting last September, according to a heavily edited "record of discussion" released by the Defence Department under the Access to Information Act.

Security plans for all major international events have been dramatically expanded since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. And though the notion of an al-Qaeda presence in British Columbia might seem farfetched today, many men with links to the terror group have lived in the province, at least temporarily.

The so-called Millennium Bomber, Ahmed Ressam, assembled bomb components in a Vancouver motel before being arrested in Washington State in late 1999 en route to Los Angeles. Mr. Ressam subsequently admitted to U.S. authorities he was plotting to attack the L.A. airport.

A Ressam associate, Samir Ait Mohamed, spent five years jailed in Vancouver as U.S. authorities sought his extradition on charges he was part of the conspiracy.

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